Page 107 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2023

Fortunately, trout can sustain intense fishing pressure because they breed so prolifically. A larger trout might drop more than 685,000 eggs at one time. One female can produce millions of offspring in her lifetime.
Trout can begin spawning when they turn about one year old and measure 10 to 14 inches long. Exactly when a young female trout might spawn for the first time largely depends upon when she hatched. A speckled trout
that hatched in May 2022 should reach about 14 inches long by August 2023. A trout that hatched in September 2022 would probably only grow to about 10 inches long by August 2023.
Several factors determine when trout spawn, including the lunar phases, tides, location, water temperature and salinity levels. To spawn, trout require high salinity levels, at least 17 parts per thousand, so eggs remain buoyant and viable. Salinity levels in the Gulf of Mexico away from major freshwater influences generally average about 25 to 35 parts per thousand.
As the bays and upper estuaries warm in late spring, trout seek cooler, more comfortable temperatures in the deeper waters of the Mississippi Sound. Specks typically start spawning in April. On average, a female trout releases a batch of eggs about once a week through the spring and into September with the peak occurring from mid-May to August. Still maturing, a one-year-old trout might spawn about 10 times a year, usually beginning later in the summer.
When preparing to spawn, trout wait for SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net
a cycle with the right conditions. Members
of the drum family along with redfish, black drum and croakers, male trout make a drumming sound to call females to them. That usually happens at night. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of drumming males congregate in places with good salinity and tidal flow waiting for the females. Specks generally spawn in deep channels and depressions with significant drop- offs.
Unlike bass or bream, trout do not make nests. Males fertilize the eggs as the females release them. Rising tides help the eggs and larvae reach protective cover in the marshes, seagrass beds, reefs or other places where they can hide from a host of predators. About 18 hours after fertilization, tiny fry about 1/16 of an inch long hatch and start looking for hiding places. If it survives, a juvenile trout would reach about two inches long in six to eight weeks.
Although one large female speck might produce five million eggs a year, very few
of them will live to spawn. Besides fishing pressure, juvenile trout face countless natural threats, including bigger trout.
Speckled trout can live to about 10 years old and weigh more than 10 pounds, but very few of them reach that size. The world record, a 17-pound, 7-ounce fish stretching nearly 34 inches long, came from the Fort Pierce, Fla. area. The Mississippi state record weighed 10 pounds, 10 ounces.
With proper management these highly prolific and tasty fish will continue to delight thousands of Mississippi anglers for many years to come.
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